Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Sitting Alone on Ching-Ting Mountain

獨坐敬亭山 (李白)
眾鳥高飛盡
孤雲獨去閒
相看兩不厭
只有敬亭山

Alone - Sit - Respect - Pavilion - Mountain (Li Bai)
Multitude - Bird - High - Fly - Finished
Solitary - Cloud - Alone - Depart - Idle
Each Other - Look - Two - Not - Tire of
Only - To  Be - Respect - Pavilion - Mountain

Sitting Alone on Ching-Ting Mountain (Li Bai)
A flock of birds has soared away
A solitary cloud has idly drifted on
We never tire of looking at each other
Only Ching-Ting Mountain


敬亭山: Some place names may not appear in some dictionaries so you'd just have to know. It is sort of like knowing that Menlo Park is a city.

眾鳥: This is literally a multitude of birds, which in English is a flock of birds.

高飛: to soar

盡: This character made me choose the present perfect tense for both the second and third lines. It indicates the action has already occurred.

去: Although this means, "to go", clouds drift.

相看兩不厭: Since the title establishes that he is alone on the mountain, this can be interpreted as he and the mountain never tire of looking at each other.

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